High Frequency Words

Front 1

Admonish

Back 1

To criticize or scold.
Admonish your friends privately, but praise them openly.

Front 2

Alacrity

Back 2

liveliness; promptness
Antonyms: apathy, aversion, disinclination, dullness, indifference, reluctance, slowness, unwillingness

Front 3

Appease

Back 3

To soothe.
Don't try to appease me; I'm really upset!

Front 4

Apprise

Back 4

To inform or give notice.
Ms. Chan wanted to apprise her employees about the company's mission.

Front 5

Approbation

Back 5

Praise.
Beatrice looked at her daughter with great approbation.

Front 6

Ascetic

Back 6

Practicing abstinence and devotion; usually a spiritual practice.
Brother Sebastian lived an ascetic existence.

Front 7

Banal

Back 7

Commonplace; not fresh or original.
The long story had many banal ideas in it, so it lost the interest of its readers

Front 8

Belie

Back 8

To give a false representation to; misrepresent: “He spoke roughly in order to belie his air of gentility” (James Joyce).
To show to be false; contradict: Their laughter belied their outward grief.

Front 9

Bolster

Back 9

To support; reinforce. To give a boost to someone.
Playing outside with my dog really bolsters my spirits when I'm feeling down

Front 10

Boorish

Back 10

Definition: crude, awkward
Antonyms: charming, cultured, exciting, polite, refined, sophisticated

Front 11

Catalyst

Back 11

Definition: something which incites activity
Antonyms: block, blockage, preventer, prevention

Front 12

Coda

Back 12

Music. The concluding passage of a movement or composition.
A conclusion or closing part of a statement.

Front 13

Cogent

Back 13

Convincing or pertinent.
The leader made some very cogent remarks about the continuing decline

Front 14

Compliant

Back 14

Agreeable; willing to yield.
Noreen had always been compliant with her employer's wishes.

Front 15

Contentious

Back 15

The act or an instance of striving in controversy or debate. See synonyms at discord.
A striving to win in competition; rivalry: The teams met in fierce contention for first place.

Front 16

Conundrum

Back 16

A strange riddle or dilemma.
Linda was in a conundrum when she scheduled two appointments at the same time

Front 17

Convoluted

Back 17

Complicated; coiled; twisted.
The boy told a story too convoluted for his mother to follow.

Front 18

Craven

Back 18

Cowardly.
It was a craven act to run away from the wreck without helping the people out of the car.

Front 19

Daunt

Back 19

Definition: frighten, alarm
Antonyms: aid, assist, embolden, encourage, hearten, help, incite, inspirit, stimulate, undaunt, urge

Front 20

Deference

Back 20

A courteous expression (by word or deed) of esteem or regard; A disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others; Courteous regard for people's feelings.

Front 21

Deride

Back 21

Definition: make fun of;insult
Antonyms: commend, compliment, flatter, praise, revere

Front 22

Desultory

Back 22

Aimless or haphazard.
The day was so hot that everyone went about their chores in a desultory fashion

Front 23

Deterrent

Back 23

Definition: impediment, restraint
Antonyms: catalyst, encouragement, incentive

Front 24

Diatribe

Back 24

Bitter or angry attack in speech or writing.
Everybody felt uncomfortable after such an unprovoked diatribe.

Front 25

Diffidence

Back 25

Lacking confidence.
Ability hits the mark where presumption over-shoots and diffidence falls short

Front 26

Digression

Back 26

Definition: deviation; straying
Antonyms: directness, straightness

Front 27

Dirge

Back 27

A song of mourning.
In the end, one or the other will triumph — a funeral dirge will be sung over the Soviet republic

Front 28

discrete

Back 28

Constituting a separate entity or part.
Tutor's tip: It would not be "discreet" (to show tact or reserve) to try to join "discrete" (consisting of unconnected or distinct parts) and competitive departments.

Front 29

Disingenuous

Back 29

Not honest and candid.
The invitation to come to their country estate seemed disingenuous so she did not seriously consider it.

Front 30

Disparage

Back 30

To degrade, to speak slightingly about.
The disparaging remarks hurt her feelings.

Front 31

Dissemble

Back 31

To hide by pretending something different.
Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love, But — why did you kick me down stairs?

Front 32

Welter

Back 32

A confused mass; a jumble: a welter of papers and magazines
To wallow, roll, or toss about, as in mud or high seas.

Front 33

Wary

Back 33

On guard; watchful: taught to be wary of strangers.
Characterized by caution: a wary glance at the black clouds

Front 34

Vituperative

Back 34

Of, relating to, or characterized by verbal abuse

Front 35

Truculence

Back 35

A disposition or apparent disposition to fight, especially fiercely.
Ferociously cruel actions or behavior.

Front 36

Tortuous

Back 36

Not straightforward; highly involved or intricate.
Reason is the slow and tortuous method

Front 37

Torpor

Back 37

A state of mental or physical inactivity or insensibility.
Lethargy; apathy.

Front 38

Tirade

Back 38

A speech of violent denunciation.
Anger begins as an inner twinge. We sense something long before it blossoms (explodes?) into an emotional tirade.

Front 39

Tenuous

Back 39

Having little substance or significance; weak.
There is a tenuous connection between what is written and what really happened.

Front 40

Tangential

Back 40

Of, relating to, or moving along or in the direction of a tangent.
Merely touching or slightly connected.
Only superficially relevant; divergent: a tangential remark

Front 41

Supersede

Back 41

Take the place or move into the position of.
Intellectual tasting of life will not supersede muscular activity

Front 42

Subside

Back 42

To sink to a lower or normal level. To sink or settle down, as into a sofa. To sink to the bottom, as a sediment. To become less agitated or active; abate

Front 43

Subpoena

Back 43

writ requiring appearance in court to give testimony
citación

Front 44

Strut

Back 44

To display in order to impress others. Sometimes used with out: Don't strut out your resume until you have more accomplishments to list.

Front 45

Striated

Back 45

Marked with striae; striped, grooved, or ridged.
Consisting of a stria or striae.